Mike Fiers Hopes for Opening Night Start for Athletics After Reporting Delay
Mike Fiers got a late start to the A’s Summer Camp, but the veteran right-hander still has hopes he can be the Oakland opening day starter.
Fiers spent Major League Baseball’s three months of shutdown working out, throwing a bullpen session every Wednesday and throwing to batters on Sunday.
Through it all, he was working side by side with another A’s pitcher, Jesus Luzardo, in Florida where both men live. They were delighted to hear that baseball would be returning and headed west, but during the testing for COVID-19, Luzardo tested positive. Fiers never did, but out of an abundance of caution, he was held out of workouts until he could get back-to-back negative tests more than 24 hours apart.
“I never tested positive, but (it was) just to be on the safe side,” Fiers said in a video conference call with the media Tuesday. I took an extra couple of days just to make sure.”
Fiers has been throwing in camp for about a week now, and while he missed two days of workouts, he said he didn’t feel behind because of all the work he’d done in Florida.
“I felt like I was in spring training all of the quarantine, working out,” he said. “I was throwing every Sunday, live, and keeping up with baseball because, in my mind, I had baseball starting up at some point this year. So, I didn’t want to be behind.”
Fiers will throw as part of an eight-inning simulated game Thursday, after which he will get a start against the Giants either Monday, or more likely, Tuesday. If it’s Monday, then he would be on pace to be the A’s opening day starter when the Angels arrive for a July 24 season opener at the Coliseum.
He was the opening day starter on March 30 last year, and that honor meant a great deal to him. He’s up for a repeat, although it’s possible the two workouts he missed will work against him.
“I’m going to try to get as ready as I can,” Fiers said. “I feel like I’m ready right now. So, it’s all about what day I land on. It’s a short season, 60 games, so we have to put the guys that are already out there right way. Every game is like a playoff game, from Day One.”
Melvin said he’d have his opening day starter named later in the week, and the manager said the starters in the Monday and Tuesday games against the Giants could be announced Wednesday.
All things being equal, he’d like Fiers to start the opener after the veteran’s 15-4 record last year set the pace for a 997-win team. And he’d like it because Fiers has been a steadying influence on an otherwise young group of pitchers.
“He’s been very good for this team,” Melvin said of Fiers. “And with some of the young starters on this staff, to have a veteran like him who’s done just about everything (is impactful). He’s been a great resource for a lot of our guys, and I can say enough, not only about his performance but also the leadership qualities.”
Those qualities apparently extend to pandemic masking. A friend in Florida made masks that resemble the once-in-a-lifetime beard that Fiers sported for a September start. The cat-tail beard only lasted one game, but the masks are in each locker. Bob Melvin and Sean Manaea both have worn them, and the mask seems to be catching on.
“I felt like it’d be a fun little thing,” Fiers said about distributing the masks to all his teammates. “A lot of guys are wearing them. I didn’t think they would, but I’ve got more.”
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Inside the Athletics on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.